Pressure mounts on automakers to address recalls

Automotive manufacturers are resorting to increasingly creative tactics in an effort to reach the owners of millions of recalled vehicles still on U.S. roads.

Bloomberg reports (via Automotive News) that some manufacturers are now pursuing far more proactive and unconventional methods, taking advantage of mediums usually reserved for advertising, marketing or PR campaigns to inform potential owners of the need to have their vehicles’ defects addressed.

Honda, which has been asking media outlets (including Leftlane) to encourage their audiences to participate in recall campaigns, has been utilizing catered social media (including Twitter and Facebook) and online advertising platforms in an attempt to reach owners. The same algorithms that can cater advertising to certain audiences can be used to determine potential owners of recalled vehicles.

GM has utilized similar strategies in an attempt to reach owners of vehicles equipped with faulty ignition switches, even going so far as to create specialized advertisements that have run on YouTube and Pandora, among other services.

But it appears that nothing is off the table at this point. Honda has even utilized local sporting events to generate awareness of its ongoing Takata airbag recall.

Typically, automakers contact registered owners of vehicles subject to recall campaigns via traditional communications methods. Mail, phone, and email are all used to varying degrees depending on the contact information provided by customers at the time of purchase and whether the vehicles are still registered in the names of the original owners.